Turquoise Kookys

Turquoise is frequently associated with the American Southwest, Native American art, and silver jewelry. It is also the state gem of Arizona. I was inspired by the turquoise gemstone and I wanted to make kookys that look like it. If you’ve ever seen a turquoise stone, you know its color ranges from a deep, cool, Pacific ocean-blue, to a warm, Caribbean Sea blue-green.

Below, I’ve posted images of double-chocolate cookies I made over the weekend. There’s dutch process cocoa in the mix, then diced dark chocolate chunks added after the flour was mixed in. I set this aside.

Separately, 1 cup of raw sugar crystals were ground up in a coffee and spice grinder.

Then they were poured into a bowl and dyed turquoise with about 6 drops of dye.

It takes a whole lot of whisking with a fork to get the color to spread evenly through the dusted sugar.

Each scoop of dough, roughly 2 tablespoons, was rolled into a ball. The balls of dough were rolled in the dyed sugar. The fork used to stir the sugar can be used to turn the ball around so it’s evenly coated.

Each ball is then put on parchment paper and baked at 300°F for 18 minutes.

During baking, the dough expanded and sugar exterior “crackles” to reveal the chocolaty interior, as intended. Turquoise is a veined stone.

Some cookies lost some turquoise luster during baking. I brushed them very lightly with melted butter, then re-rolled them, topside down, on a plate of the extra sugar. The sugar will only stick to the raised, moistened areas, and leave the “cracks” brown.

‘Not bad for a first try on a random idea, huh?

To make this kooky not just look like a gem, but really embody the spiritual qualities associated with turquoise, I think ground lavender could be added in to the recipe. Lavender is very calming, and is already used in tea cookies and other dessert recipes.